Lady Books

I don't think the recommended age for any books written by Janet and Geoff Benge be limited to high school age. These books are packed with chronological details and additive stories. You can't put them down until you are finished. John Adams wanted to be a farmer and his father insisted he get a good education. Who knew he would be one our most important founding fathers? You will soon discover details of John's life that leads up to him being a great man. All curiosity about the subjects of the "Heroes of History" books is satisfied because the authors start at the beginning of their lives until the very end. They are quick reads - packed with valuable, well-researched life stories. I recommend that any age group start ordering these books, and if you want to get your kids hooked on historical figures, this is the way to go. You will want to read everything they have penned.

I am a teacher of middle school students with learning disabilities. What a treasure Mike Venezia's many books are. They are well-written, funny and accessible -- while being factually correct. The students really learn a lot from these books. The students got to see the benefits of the Federalist party, which generally they thought was only for the interests of big money.

This book has an interesting touch. Actually I wrote a whole biograghy book report on it. I have read a lot of books on John F. Kennedy. But I have to say this was the best one. I asked a lot of people about this book and they all recomended it to me. And that's how I read this book.

Most biographies are very boring to young readers in this highly visual world. The picture book size ones like Celia Cruz or Muhammed Ali are very popular. The children took to this biography immediately. Every page has well chosen photgraphs and the text is clearly written and covers all important information.The book is 6" by 9" which is a good size for bookbags. It also includes key dates at back. I have bought three in the series and the teachers asked for more.

The Profiles of the Presidents series is a superb collection of introductory juvenile biographies for young students, which I think is around the halfway mark in terms of covering everyone from Washington to Bush the Younger. Ironically, it is because of the current resident of the White House that John Quincy Adams has received more attention in recent years. After all, the parallels are extraordinary: both men are the only sons of Presidents to be elected to the office, they both have the same first name but different middle names, and they both lost the popular vote in their first election. Will the parallel continue in 2004? Well, no: because while every other President who was elected with less of the popular vote lost their bid for re-election they both (John Quincy Adams and Benjamin Harrison) lost in rematches with the opponents who won the popular vote (Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland) and that is not going to happen this time because Al Gore did "Saturday Night Live" and disappeared into the sunset.

Michael Burgan begins this book by establishing the idea that the story of John Quincy Adams is that of "A Lifetime of Service." Where Adams is most unique is that there he continued to serve his country after his four difficult years in the White House, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and becoming known as "Old Man Eloquent" for his attacks on slavery (touched on in Steven Spielberg's film "Amistad"). Burgan deals with the problems of being the son of a President but also goes into detail on the extraordinary diplomat career both abroad and at home. The end result is the inevitable conclusion that even if he had not been elected President the life and political career of John Quincy Adams should be remembered.

In addition to the concise but detailed biography, this volume is profusely illustrated with historic etchings, paintings, and maps. Even when the illustrations are black & white they often end up with colored frames, showing the premium placed by the editors on having an eye-catching book. In the back of the book you will find a glossary, fast facts about Adams, a parallel timeline of world and presidential events, extensive resources to help young students better understand the life and times of this particular president, and a decent index. The Profiles of the Presidents series is excellent and Michael Burgan's look at "John Quincy Adams" is one of the best to date.

Coincidence is an amazing thing when you talk about American presidents. If you father was President of the United States and you have the same first name but a different middle name, then you will win the Presidency despite getting less popular votes. This was true for both John Quincy Adams and George W. Bush, and since Andrew Jackson ended up defeating Adams four years later I was a bit surprised that Al Gore decided not to see if history would continue to repeat itself on this score (and since Gore is not running does that mean unlike Adams and Benjamin Harrison, Bush will be the first President to be elected with less votes to be re-elected?). Anyhow, before the 2000 election the greatest coincidence in presidential history was probably that if you were elected to the White House as a Whig you died in office very early. This brings us to John Tyler, who became the first Vice President to succeed to the Presidency when William Henry Harrison died a month after his inaugural in 1841. The Whig pattern was repeated with Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore in 1850.

Much is made of the peaceful transfer of power from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans when Thomas Jefferson was elected in 1801. In stark contrast is the chaos that ensued when Tyler became president and proceeded to do things his own way. Unwilling to give an inch, he remained true to his own principles no matter what his party or the public thought. As a result, Tyler was always at odds with Congress and was thrown out of his own party. In this look at Tyler as "The Accidental President" Robin S. Doak portrays Taylor as a slave owner and stubborn supporter of states' rights who wanted to keep the government's power in the hand of the wealthy. It is strange to think that the Whigs did not know how contrary Tyler was, especially since in 1836 he had run for vice president in two of the three regions. I should explain that the Whigs wanted to throw the election in to the House of Representatives, so the ran Daniel Webster in the Northeast, William Henry Harriosn in the West, and Hugh L. White in the South; Tyler was the vice president with both Harrison and White. All three Whigs were beaten by Martin Van Buren. Four years later the Whigs ran just Harrison and won.

Ultimately what makes the story of John Tyler fascinating is not what he did as president, but simply how he became president. Today we take it for granted that if the president dies, the vice-president is sworn in; the picture of Lyndon Johnson taking the oath on Air Force One, with Jacqueline Kennedy standing next to him with her husband's blood splattered on her dress, immediately comes to most of our minds. But when Harrison died and Tyler arrived in Washington the Constitution was not clear about how much power he hand in this situation. Some thought Tyler would be the "acting president," until new elections could be called, or that he might step down and allow Congress to select the new president. Instead, Tyler had himself sworn in as the tenth president and declared he would serve out the rest of Harrisons's four-year term. By the time young readers finish this informative juvenile biography they might be convinced that no President received less support from his cabinet than John Tyler.

This Profiles of the Presidents volume is lavishly illustrated, without sacrificing the story of Tyler's life and his tumultuous presidency. The book features a glossary, fast facts about the president, a parallel timeline of world and presidential events, an index, and some additional resources to help young readers understand the president's life and times better. These volumes remain the idea place for younger students to turn to for their first biography of any one of the nation's presidents. Tyler's political career certainly gives Doak a fascinating tale to tell and she does an excellent job of laying it all our for her young readers.

After watching dramatic machinations regarding the vice presidency on "The West Wing" this season it is interesting to look back at what happened 1841 when William Henry Harrison became the first president to die in office. At that point in American history the Constitution was seen as being unclear as to what happened at that point regarding the question of succession. It was John Tyler, the vice president, who insisted that the Constitution gave him the full powers of the president when Harrison died. Five days after Harrison's death Tyler took the oath of office, thereby establish the precedent that no one questions today. However, all but one of Harrison's Whig cabinet members wuit their posts and the following year the Whigs tried unsuccessfully to impeach Tyler in the House of Representatives.

In this juvenile biography of Tyler for the Our Presidents series, Steven Ferry does a good job of contrasting the popular idea of Tyler as the "Accidental President" with the political struggles that qualify him to be called the most stubborn president of all time as well. The first chapter of this slim volume establishes Tyler as a rebel, who was taught to be independent and to stand up for his beliefs by his father, a judge who became the governor of Virginia. Tyler's political career is covered both in terms of the offices he held but also his commitment to states' rights. Ferry makes it clear that when Tyler was selected as Harrison's running mate on the famous "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!" ticket despite the fact he did not support many of the Whig ideas.

Tyler's time in the White House is characterized as "An Accidental Presidency," when Harrison died one month into his term having caught pneumonia at his inaugural after speaking for more than two hours in a freezing rain. Ferry details the steps by which Tyler assumed the presidency and then covers the lack of cooperation between Tyler and the Congress, which saw the first time Congress used its power to override a presidential veto. Tyler had some success with foreign affairs, but the Senate refused to ratify a treaty that would have annexed Texas because they did not want to giver the president the credit. The final chapter looks at Tyler's life after the White House, including his involvement with the government of the Confederacy.

By the end of this volume young readers will understand why Tyler was not only unpopular, but was considered a traitor by any Americans. As is the case with these volumes this book has informative sidebars on topics such as Tyler's second wife and the ghost that haunts Tyler's house, and the margins are filled with Interesting Facts about Tyler's personal life and political career. The book is illustrated with historic paintings, drawings, and etchings, and the back contains a Time Line, Glossary Terms, Presidential Facts, and sources For Further Information. As always, the Our Presidents seires remains one of the best introductory looks at the life of Tyler or any other American president.

I have just finished reading Catherine Edmondston's journal of her life during the Civil War.

I am so grateful to "Kate" for making the effort to record each day, 1860 to 1866 as she experienced it. She recorded the reports, rumors, and her vitriolic response to the hated Yankee depredations. She also found time to record the ebb and flow of the plantation work her personal joys and sorrows. I feel she shared her life with me, a woman of different circumstance in 2008.

It is a hefty book, weighty in both substance and size. Many a night in bed I struggled to hold it upright at an angle harmonious with my bifocals. Reading it from beginning to end is a task of persistence and devotion. I feel rewarded by the effort.

The story offers the opportunity to travel back in time, to be immersed in the thinking and social fabric of the secessionist south.

At times I became impatient with her favorite themes, the gentlemanliness of the Confederate Officers contrasted with the "ill bread" Yankees, her acerbic abuse of Lincoln. Still what would you expect? Do you want social realism or some sanitized romantic novel?

The last entries, after Lee's surrender, made the whole reading worth while. Catherine and her husband Patrick had three properties and about eighty-six slaves. She continues her entries for another year as they struggle, former master and former slave to work out a new social contract.

Catherine excoriates the "Freeman's Bureau", their meddling, rules and general mischief. It is frustration and miscommunication on all sides. The dysfunctional family that was the Plantation hierarchy falls apart before the reader's eyes. There is a redistribution of power, misread on both sides as the model shifts from Master and Slave to Labor and Management. Kate has a wonderful ear for dialect and dialogue. You can hear the speech and see the participants confronting each other both uncomfortable and on unsure ground. It is the beginning of the transition period in race relations that may devolve into the Presidency of Barack Obama.

Same high quality and interesting storyline found in all of the Encounter the Saints books.

I found this book in a "used book" store 20 years ago, loved it, gave it to a friend, and now regret it... It is truly a treasure if you're lucky enough to have a copy!